Chairman of the Edo Sports Commission, Godwin Dudu-Orumen has denied speculations that the Edo State Sports Festival has been postponed.
The festival is still slated for the week of February 11 to 16. According to a press release, the Edo State Sports Commission Chairman, Godwin Dudu-Orumen described the speculations as false and misleading.
Dudu-Orumen in a statement signed by, his Special Adviser on Media, Nnamdi Okosieme, asked the public to disregard such rumours as they were products of minds irrevocably committed to mischief-making.
Dudu-Orumen stated that contrary to such insinuations, the festival was very much on course and would hold from February 11 as scheduled at the Sports Complex of the University of Benin.
“There is no iota of truth to such news. We have heard that we could not secure the use of the UNIBEN Sports Complex.
“That is utterly false and misleading. I can tell you authoritatively that since the committee for the Edo State Sports Festival was empanelled under my leadership by Deputy Governor Phillip Shuaib, we have taken every step necessary to ensure that everything needed for the successful hosting of the festival.
“This includes the securing permission from the UNIBEN authorities as directed by the Deputy Governor. It is a matter of fact that the management of the UNIBEN has graciously approved the use of their facility for the games”, Dudu-Orumen said.
The ESSC boss said his committee irrevocably committed to hosting a successful state sports festival as it would afford the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the National Sports Festival headed by Deputy Governor Shaibu opportunity to both to test run the facilities for the national games and assess the state of preparedness of Edo State athletes ahead of the national games.
“We are going to have a high-quality state game, which will mirror the performance of our athletes at the national sports festival.
“We are not letting the distraction that such fake news represents deter us. I use this opportunity to invite Edo sons and daughter and the general Nigerian public to come to witness the games from Tuesday, February 11, and have fun,” Dudu-Orumen said.
